It feels completely weird to regard
Audience's self-titled 1969 debut album as an "art rock" album, or even stranger, "prog rock." Yet, along with
In the Court of the Crimson King (the first album by
King Crimson) and early
Yes efforts, it is exactly that, despite the fact that it is far more rockist and basic. But vocalist and guitarist
Howard Werth wanted to be as far away as possible from the band's previous incarnation as the Lloyd Alexander Blues Band. So, along with reed and woodwind man
Keith Gemmell, drummer
Tony Connor, and bassist
Trevor Williams -- yes, that one -- the band put their flutes and arty lyrics about poets and meadows first and got right to it. There is no psychedelia on these sides, though there is a certain amount of flower power in the laughable words.
Audience were in the process of self-discovery here, and they fail as often as they succeed. Cuts like "Waverley Stage Coach" and "Harlequin" borrow wonderfully from the heaviness and imagery of
the Move's best sides, while "Poet," "Pleasant Convalescene," and "River Boat Queen" are pure twee twaddle.